KABUL, Dic 05 (IPS) - Afghan women are no strangers to gender-based violence. For decades now, violent crimes against women have been heading for epic proportions, as young girls are forced into marriage, wives and daughters are abused, and women are dealt harsh punishments for ‘moral crimes'.

LUSAKA, Dic 05 (IPS) - Five years ago, Forbes Gwilize, 52, a cotton grower from Musena village, 80 kilometres north of the Zambian capital Lusaka, was hardly able to earn a living from farming maize.

WASHINGTON, Dic 05 (IPS) - Underlining the persistent power of their party's most right-wing elements, a majority of Republican senators Tuesday blocked ratification of the long-pending International Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD).

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, Dic 05 (IPS) - Tourism-dependent Antigua may have been spared the ravages of superstorm Sandy, but the island is nevertheless feeling its effects on environmental, political and economic fronts.

UNITED NATIONS, Dic 05 (IPS) - Undocumented immigrants have played a significant role in recovery efforts since Hurricane Sandy swept the northeast United States one month ago. But despite their contributions, they have been left in the storm's wake with little financial, legal or moral support.

UNITED NATIONS, Dic 04 (IPS) - Mahatma Gandhi said it with remarkable moral clarity – "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." That is indeed what happened in Gaza over eight days in November, with an estimated 160 Palestinians and six Israelis dead in the latest exchange of rockets and drones brought to an uneasy end by an Egyptian brokered ceasefire.

GUATEMALA CITY, Dic 04 (IPS) - As the mining industry booms in Guatemala, local communities are increasingly opposed to the operations of the mainly foreign companies because of the potential negative effects on the environment and on their villages.

WASHINGTON, Dic 04 (IPS) - As Syria descends further into civil war, the Barack Obama administration has struggled to balance its support for anti-Assad groups with its concerns that the opposition leadership – including the newly-formed umbrella coalition – is controlled by hardline Islamist groups.

UNITED NATIONS, Dic 04 (IPS) - The beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused of readying its chemical weapons against rebel forces, is one of three governments in the militarily-volatile Middle East which has shied away from the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).